PO983 - United States Foreign Policy and National Security

Module content and teaching

Principal aims

The module aims are: To introduce the main theoretical approaches and conceptual debates relevant to a detailed analysis of the place of the United States within contemporary international relations and in particular foreign policy analysis and security studies; To develop understanding and interpretation of the actors, institutions and processes of foreign and national security policy-making within the United States; To enable a holistic understanding of US national security through merging insights and concepts from the disciplines of US foreign policy analysis, US defence studies, and the study of international security; To offer opportunities for understanding and explaining of the United States’ place within the international system and its relationship with other states and non-state actors; To offer informed discussion of several contemporary issues and challenges facing the United States in its foreign relations and providing a challenge to US security; To develop students’ skills in the effective collection and interpretation of information from diverse sources; To develop students’ abilities to argue cogently, concisely and critically.